Nunkeeling Parish information from Bulmers' 1892.

NUNKEELING:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1892.

Wapentake of Holderness (North Division) - County Council Electoral Division of Brandesburton - Petty Sessional Division of North Holderness - Poor Law Union of Skirlaugh - County Court District of Beverley - Rural Deanery of Hornsea - Archdeaconry of the East Riding - Diocese of York.

This parish, including the hamlet of Bewholme, covers an area of 2,314 acres, of which 2,267½ acres are under assessment, and are rated at £2,216. The population in 1891 was 238, and at the previous census 272. Both the soil and subsoil are clay, and the chief crops are wheat, barley, oats, turnips, and seeds. The lordship of the manor is in dispute. The land belongs to several proprietors, of whom the most extensive are Thomas Carter Dixon, Esq.; Mr. Samuel L. Haldane, Hull: John Bainton, Esq.; H. Y. Whytehead, Esq.; John Rickaby, Esq.; Miss Hewitson; and Mr. William Smith, Bewholme.

In Saxon times, as appears from Domesday Book, it bore the name of Chillinghe, and at the time of the Conquest it belonged to two Englishmen named Chilvert or Chilbert. Subsequently, after the erection of a convent here, the prefix Nun was added to Chillinge or Killing, to distinguish this from other places bearing that name.

This priory was founded about the year 1150 by Agnes de Arches, or de Catfoss, widow of Herbert St. Quintin, and dedicated to the honour of St. Mary Magdalen and St. Helen. She endowed it with three carucates of land for the maintenence of twelve nuns, and gave to it the parish church. The foundress's endowment was not an extensive one, but it was subsequently very considerably enlarged by the grants of many other pious individuals, and at the Reformation the nuns possessed lands in the following places . - Aldborough, Arnold, Atwick, Barmston, Bewholme, Benningholme, Beeford, Beverley, Bonwick, Burton, Burshall, Catfoss, Catwick, Elstanwick, Gousill, Hatfield, Hedon, Hilston, Holderness, Helm, Killing, Mappleton, East Newton, Oketon, Paull Holm, Riston, Sigglesthorne, Sewerby, Sunderland, (probably Sunderlandwick), Ulrome, Wassand, and Wawne. The nuns led a quiet unobtrusive life, devoting their whole time to prayer and works of charity, and have consequently passed away almost unrecorded in the pages of history. The list of its prioresses is also very imperfect, the names of eleven only being known during the four centuries in which the convent flourished. The last prioress was Christiana Burgh, who surrendered the convent and all its possessions into the hands of the King's Commissioners, on the 10th September, 1540, and received a pension of £8 a year, and the other nine nuns who formed the community at the Dissolution received pensions ranging from £1 13s. 4d. to £2 6s. 8d. each. Their gross revenue was £50 17s. 2d., equal to about £500 of present money, but, even allowing for the greater value of money in those days, it is clearly evident that the tenants of the priory lands must have held them at very easy rentals. The seal of the priory attached to the deed of surrender, in the Public Record Office, is oval in shape, and represents a full-length figure of St. Helen, crowned, bearing a crozier, or cross-head staff, in her right hand, and a book in her left. The legend is imperfect : - S SANCTE HELE * * * * * * ECCLE D' KILLING.

The site and demesnes of the priory and the manor of Nunkeeling were sold on very indulgent terms to Sir Richard Gresham, Knt., to be held in capite by knight's service. The property, manor, and advowson of the church subsequently passed through many hands, and in 1707 were purchased by John Hudson, Esq., for the sum of £4,424. In 1772 another John Hudson devised the manor, estate, &c., to trustees, to sell or mortgage, and the following year the manor, lands, and advowson were offered for sale. The estate was sold in portions to several purchasers, but through some mistake or informality in the terms of the sale the ownership of the manorial rights has since been a matter of dispute.

There are no remains of the priory to be seen above ground, but in Poulson's History of Holderness there is an engraving of the old priory church, as it appeared in 1784. One-half of it was open to the sky; the other half was covered with a tiled roof, and used for Divine service.

The township of Nunkeeling is about three miles north-west from Hornsea station, and 12 miles north-east from Beverley. There is no village bearing the name; the houses are scattered over the whole township. The church of St. Mary Magdalene and St. Helena was rebuilt on the site of the old priory church in 1810, at the expense of T. Dixon, Esq. It is a small structure, consisting of chancel, nave, and western turret, containing one bell. Parts of the circular pillars belonged to the old church. The font is circular and ancient, and rests on four piers. In the nave are the mutilated effigies of a knight, in the armour of the 14th century, and a lady, supposed to represent Sir Andrew de Fauconberg and his wife. There are memorials of the families of Acklam, Dixon, and Carter. The register dates from 1559. The living, formerly a perpetual curacy, is now a vicarage, net yearly value £80, including 16 acres of glebe, in the gift of T. C. Dixon, Esq., and held since 1890 by the Rev. C. E. Butler, M.A., who resides at Bewholme.

On the roadside leading to Catfoss stands the broken shaft of an ancient cross. It is octagonal, and appears to have once borne some ornamentation.

Billings Hill, in this township, is one of the highest parts of Holderness. It was purchased, at the sale of the estate in 1773, by Mr. James Farthing, and is now the property of John Rickaby, Esq.

BEWHOLME, is a hamlet and manor situated about one-and-a-half miles from the church. The Vicarage House stands here. Within the grounds is a small building fitted up as a mission chapel. There are chapels belonging to the Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists, the former erected in 1835, the latter in 1838, and cost £224.

The Parochial School is also here. It was rebuilt in 1848, and enlarged in 1875, for the accommodation of 70 children, and is attended by 50 on an average.

Bewbolme was formerly the residence of the Acklams, one of whom is mentioned amongst the Yorkshire royalists whose lands were confiscated by an unjust Act during the Commonwealth.

[Description(s) from Bulmer's History and Directory of East Yorkshire (1892)]

Directories

• Transcript of the entry for the Post Office, professions and trades in Bulmer's Directory of 1892.

Scan, OCR and html by Colin Hinson. Checking and correction by Peter Nelson.